Study On The Spatial Distribution And Morphology Of Villages And Towns In Western Hunan Under The Guard System Of Ming And Qing Dynasties

During the Ming and Qing dynasties,there were frequent uprisings of minority groups in the western Hunan region,which also ma de the residents of the region subject to war and chaos.This study focuses on the military defense syste m in the western Hunan region during the Ming and Qing dynasties.From both historical and architectural perspectives,this study focuses on the overall spatial distribution and mo rphological changes of the guard towns and surrounding villages in the Xiangxi region during the Ming and Qing dynasties,and quantifies the spatial layout and morphology of the villages and towns under the guard syste m in the Xiangxi region during the Ming and Qing dynasties using GIS technology and space syntax theory.This paper first analyzes the spatial layout and morphology of villages and tow ns under the Ming and Qing dynasty Xiangxi guardhouse systemThis paper firstly,syste matically compo ses and elaborates on the syste m and its establishmen t in Xiangxi during the Ming and Qing dynasties,including the changes and diffe rences in the policies of the central dynasties towards the minority g roups in X iangxi;Then the i mpact of the syste m on the surrounding villages and towns was analyzed and discussed from three aspects: political and economic,social and cultural,and military transportation;we used GIS technology and overlapped it with the geographic information of the guardhouses and the surrounding villages and towns in Xiangxi.The spatial distribution pattern of the guardhouse sites and the surrounding villages and towns in the Xiangxi region w as analyzed in three aspects: the overall spatial distribution pattern of the guardhouse sites,the topographical factors of the sites and the spatial distribution relationship between the guardhouse sites and the surrounding villages and towns,and it was concluded that the overall distribution pattern of the guardhouse sites and the surrounding villages and towns in the Xiangxi region is characterized by a circular distribution and regional clustering.The spatial distribution pattern between the guardhouse sites and the surrounding villages and towns in western Hunan shows a tendency of agglomeration in the overall distribution,but the degree of local concentration is relatively high and the overall distribution pattern of villages and towns was basically formed in the Ming Dynasty;further mo re,the scale and shape of the surrounding villages and towns under the guardhouse system,th e street space and its accessibility,the building plan shape and its defensibility are analyzed quantitatively at three levels: macro,mediu m and micro,and the defensive characteristics are summarized;finally,a typical village and town case is analyzed.By comb ining qualitative and quantitative analysis of the spatial distribution and morphological characteristics of villages and towns in western Hunan under the influence of the guardhouse system during the Ming and Qing dynasties,this paper concludes that the guardhouse system influenced and sti mulated the development of villages and towns in western Hunan during the Ming and Qing dynasties,and that various aspects of their spatial structure and morphology changed.